@Anonymouswrote:Hello! I am buying a house and am 5 points away from getting a much lower score. I have 26% CC Utilization total, 48% on one card and 6% utilization on another and new student loans that have balances higher than the original loan amount due to accrued interest while in school. Should I use my cash to pay down my student loans so that they are lower than the original balances? Or get my CC utilization lower or pay off the lower balance of the cards? I wont be able to get it much lower than 23% total, but I can certainly pay my student loan balances to below the original amount. OR will either of these even make a difference? I just need a 5 point increase to save almost $100 a month. Please help
Thank you!
I know you didn't mean "lower score", you meant higher score and lower interest.
IMHO you would get the most mileage in FICO 2 from paying off as many of the lower balance cards as you can down to zero.
@Anonymouswrote:I have a couple of missed payments from 2013 and 2 collections. Do you think I can ask to have those collections removed if its been 5 years? I never heard of Goodwill letters. Unfortunately I am under contract and have about 3 weeks until closing. My CCs and student loans update at the end of this month. Im not sure a goodwill letter will be quick enough. How low do you think I would have to go on my UTL to get 5 more points?
You can just send the bureau "verification" letters asking them to verify the items. If they don't get verification from the creditor in 30 days they'll drop the items.
@Anonymouswrote:
I forgot a detail. The lower balance credit card is in closed status because I never used it. But Still has a small balance. It doesn't count towards my total available credit but does count towards a monthly payment. I'm desperate. Thanks for your help ahead of time!
Yes that's a big detail. That kind of report kills your score. You definitely want to pay that one off.
@Anonymouswrote:UPDATE: I paid off the small balance closed card and got the 5 points I needed on my FICO 2 score! Thank you for helping everyone!
Congratulations.
@Anonymouswrote:Hi again! Im wondering if you guys can help again! I am only 3 points away from a 700 FICO 2! I have a couple of student loans that have higher balances than the original amount borrowed due to deferment. Should I bring those below the original amount? I can only do so by a fraction, so will it even make a difference?
Thanks again for the help last year!
You should. I don't know if it will make a scoring difference, but you should start paying that stuff down.